


legacy

by aquila (pipistrelle)



Series: drift dictionary [6]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-19 01:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22836238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipistrelle/pseuds/aquila
Summary: The memorial service for the fallen Marshall.
Relationships: Mako Mori & Stacker Pentecost, Raleigh Becket/Mako Mori
Series: drift dictionary [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/60955
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	legacy

**Author's Note:**

> It is my life's goal to someday actually finish this series, so I'm wading back into old drafts. Only 18 to go!

They clear off the main Shatterdome floor and build a small platform for the memorial. At the podium, Mako stares over the heads of the crowd at Cherno Alpha’s ruptured chest cavity suspended in its deployment bay. The audience expects her to say something profound, that will heal the wound Marshall Pentecost left when he was torn from the world. She is his daughter. It is her duty.

She knows she said something. Afterwards, hiding from the dignitaries in an empty bunk, she doesn’t remember what it was. Loss too big to feel crushes her like miles of cold seawater, and the only thing that is not crushed is her shame. It creeps over her like a fever; shame for insulting Sensei’s legacy, for not being able to tell those faceless hundreds that he was more than a soldier, more than just a fixed point. Shame that, even three weeks after his death, she hasn’t wept for him and is afraid she will never be able to. Shame at her cowardice in running away. Shame --

A soft knock interrupts the red-hot litany. Raleigh is on the other side of the door, and only waits for her to yank it open before engulfing her in his scratchy sweater and indomitable love. “You’re the best thing he ever did,” he says, without preamble, as though he can't contain the words any longer. "All that ceremony, all that talk about legacy -- it's you, Mako."

"I know," she snaps, burning with shame again, the pressure building. She catches herself, reins herself in. Stiffly, in control, she says, "I'm grateful."

Raleigh's dry lips brush her forehead. A brief kiss, undemanding. "So am I.”


End file.
